Bubble-blowing gun connects email to real world

Ever wish you could interact with your emails in a more tangible way? Designer Ted Hayes from Limina Studio in New York has come up with a creative way of making it possible: by linking his inbox to a toy gun that blows soap bubbles each time he gets an email. "I like the idea of physically manifesting otherwise ephemeral electronic information," he says. "I thought it would be fun to have a kind of magical indicator of the arrival of new email which is otherwise rather banal."

Creating the system required moderate programming and electronics knowledge. A microcontroller uses a radio module to wirelessly connect to a web server to check a script that gets updated when an email is received. If there are new messages, the microcontroller engages two actuators that emit bubbles. One of them is a relay that switches on a motor while a servo moves a bubble-blowing loop in place.

The simple project is just one example of a growing movement to connect physical objects to the web, creating an "Internet of things". Electronics hobbyists have already built more complex systems, such as an automated network in a home that allows lights, gates and doors to be controlled from a web site. However, pre-programmed devices could soon allow novices to take part as well by decreasing the amount of expertise required. This shift is similar to what happened with the internet when web sites like Geocities suddenly enabled people to create web sites with little technical knowledge.